This invention relates to gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines, particularly those which have been installed into a bar top, table top, or other working surface.
Casinos are noisy, crowded environments where difficulties are often encountered by patrons in locating available gaming machines at bars, keno lounges, restaurants, sports book areas, etc. Moreover, assuming that a patron has acquired use of a gaming machine, it is often difficult for the patron to retain or reserve use of the machine if the patron leaves the gaming machine even for a short period of time.
In order to maximize the available floor space of a gaming establishment, gaming operators have resorted to installing gaming machines at a variety of different locations within a casino including, for example, restaurants, bars and/or other locations.
For example, it is quite common in gaming jurisdictions for bar tops to be constructed with gaming machines installed into them. Typically, such gaming machines are permanently mounted into or onto the bar top, and as a result, create an uneven surface for the player to place his or her drink. Additionally, the bar top-installed gaming machines are typically fixed in that the bar top can not be modified for a person wanting to drink but not gamble. Additionally, such bar top-installed gaming machines make it difficult for regions surrounding the bar top gaming machine to be properly cleaned.
In a restaurant, it is typically undesirable to place a gaming machine into a tabletop because most of the time the tabletop is being used for food service. Thus, the only casino game that is typically played within a restaurant is keno, which, for example, may involve use of a keno “runner,” or may involve the player periodically getting up and leaving the restaurant area to place his or her bet.
In keno lounge areas, a player typically marks his or her keno ticket and then takes the ticket up to a counter where it is marked by a keno operator. After this is done, the player may have to stand if his or her seat has been occupied by another player. Some keno player's keep track of the numbers that come up on the keno board and make there bets accordingly. Such situations may require the use of a relatively large amount of space for each player and his or her associated papers. Further, each time a player desires to place a bet, he or she must gather up all of his or her papers before going up to the counter to place the bet. Needless to say, this is time consuming process, which, on occasion, may result in a player failing to place a desired bet and/or losing the place where the player was previously sitting.
In a sports book area the tables are typically used for laying out papers to create betting strategies and/or to predict future sports play activities and/or outcomes. Upon completing such analysis, it is typically necessary for the player to go to a counter to place his or her bet. This consumes time because a player must collect all of his or her papers, and then go up to the counter to participate in the betting process. Additionally, in a busy sports book area, the person may loose his or her while waiting to place his or her bet(s).
Thus, it will be appreciated that conventional gaming and betting techniques may involve a number of inconveniences for players and/or other patrons.